The Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) Board of Directors is proud to provide a scholarship of $750.00 in honour of a long-term staff, Nina Vacca.
Nina passed away in 2021. Nina arrived to Canada as a refugee and was a lifelong learner; she pursued her Early Childhood Education Certificate later in life.
Nina worked at CNH as a manager of the LINC Childcare Program; she was also a childcare worker in the Families Branching Out Program and Family Place. She always showed a lot of love and care in the work she did with children.
Her contributions and work did not stop with her caring for children at CNH: she volunteered in her community every year to organize events for the Chilean community.
At CNH we want to celebrate Nina’s legacy by offering this scholarship to refugee and immigrant women.
To apply, please complete the application online at https://bit.ly/nina-vacca-scholarship-2022 or get an application form from reception at CNH (5288 Joyce St) and email it to info@cnh.bc.ca.Deadline for applications is July 22, 2022 at 5 pm.
Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) is accepting nominations for its Board of Directors. This is an exciting time to join our Board as we move on from the pandemic to continue and develop as a vibrant organization.
Applicants should live and/or work in Renfrew-Collingwood, have a broad understanding of the neighbourhood, feel committed to becoming engaged in improving all aspects of our neighbourhood, and be able to bring expertise and perspectives that increase our organization’s capacity to be equitable and inclusive.
We are interested in hearing from people from all backgrounds and ages but are especially interested in applicants who are between the ages of 21-29 or are 55-plus. We are also interested in hearing from individuals who live with a disability. This year we have a particular need for those who have experience in health care, religious/spiritual associations, and knowledge of government. We are also particularly interested in candidates with relevant lived experience or who are representative of a historically marginalized group.
The CNH Board of Directors is committed to an anti-oppressive, anti-racist approach to its work and welcomes those who thrive in a vibrant, welcoming environment.
Our Strategic Plan has three strategic priorities:
– Connect with and be more accessible, equitable and inclusive for people in the community.
– Build community capacity to advocate for the future of the people in Renfrew-Collingwood.
– Invest in our organizational foundation to support our sustainability and growth.
Applicants should be able to spend 8-10 hours per month on Board-related work and be able to commit to a three-year term, starting this October. The deadline for applications is July 8; members of the Board’s Nominations Committee will be contacting applicants July 9-23. If you are interested, please contact Board President Leila Trickey at president@cnh.bc.ca.
Children ages 7-12 can look forward to two weeks of gymnastics, soccer, and basketball in our Spring Break Camps, coming this March 2022! These camps provide a fun and safe learning environment where they can play and beef up their skills and techniques in those sports, while also meeting new friends. To sign up, please call 604-435-0323.
Gymnastics Spring Camp Instructor: Lucinda Donaldson Ages 7 to 12 Monday – Friday, 9-4pm Week 1: March 14-18 Week 2: March 21-25 Full day (9am-4pm): $150.00/week Half-day (9am-12pm): $75.00/week Maximum number of participants: 24
This camp, run by Gym Sense Gymnastics Education, will create an atmosphere of fun and excitement that encourages participants to safely learn new gymnastics skills and techniques. This program will educate, challenge, and entertain young children. Weather permitting, we will go outside to do fun and exciting field trips.
Please note: If your child is participating in full-day gymnastics camps, they must bring their own lunch/snacks. A supervisor will be present during lunch hour.
Click here to access the Gymnastics Spring Camp’s health and safety guidelines.
Spring Sports Camp Instructor: TBA Ages 8 to 12 Monday – Friday, 1-3pm Week 1: March 14-18 Week 2: March 21-25 $65.00/week Maximum number of participants: 15
A fun class for anyone who loves to play soccer and basketball. Learn to play the most beautiful game one week and learn how to improve your shooting and handles the next. This class will emphasize basic fundamentals and drills.
Click here to access the Spring Sports Camp’s health and safety guidelines.
We are reaching out to invite folks to collaborate in the creation of a new committee based in the Renfrew-Collingwood Neighbourhood representing 2SLGBTQA+ communities.
In 2019 and again in 2021, an informal group that included CNH staff, neighbourhood volunteers, and partner organizations worked together to organize successful Renfrew Collingwood Pride events. We acknowledge and thank Sterling James, who initiated the formation of this group. After organizing these events last summer, there was interest from community members to have a formal committee to support organizing in the neighbourhood. That is why we are looking to start a new committee!
In order to do this, we would like to come together as an interim planning group to create the terms of reference for the committee, including the community responsibilities, committee name, and process for new members to join. Once this work has been finalized, we hope that the official committee will be formed by April 2022.
We are inviting representatives from community organizations, residents and individuals connected to Renfrew-Collingwood neighbourhood, with priority given to BIPOC 2SLGBTQA+ individuals, to join 3 planning meetings starting in January 2022 to work together to create the committee structure.
Please email Emily Rees by January 10, 2022 if you are interested in being involved.
Do you believe everyone should have access to fresh foods? Do you want to support neighbours who face barriers to accessing healthy, culturally appropriate, and locally-grown food? Join CNH’s Mutual Aid CSA!
What is a CSA?
Community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs are direct relationships between farmers and community members that involve a subscription to a farm’s harvests. They are an alternative socioeconomic model of agriculture and food distribution whose overarching goal is to create a sense of community through local markets, quite different from shopping at big box grocery stores.
Your membership to CNH’s Mutual Aid CSA will support the Tsawwassen First Nation Farm School (TFNFS), an integrated vegetable and livestock farm that centers regenerative agriculture and Indigenous food systems perspectives and is managed in partnership between Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPN) and the Tsawwassen First Nation. Through this CSA program, you’ll be receiving 8 weeks of fresh, local produce delivered directly from the farm school to Collingwood Neighbourhood House. You will also be subsidizing a box for a low-income community member!
How our program works
When you sign up, you will receive a box of fresh locally grown vegetables, and so will a family in the neighbourhood who is unable to afford healthy food options.
Not interested in joining but still want to support a low-income neighbour to access fresh foods? You can make a donation to the program. 100% of these funds will go towards subsidizing a CSA for a neighbour in Renfrew Collingwood.
What is Mutual Aid?
Mutual aid systems involve cooperative networks of care between people in a community and involve the core principle that everyone has something to contribute as well as something they need. Mutual aid systems are long-term and grassroots responses to a common struggle and ultimately work toward justice and equity for all.
What is in our CSA
We will be working with the farmers at The Tsawwassen First Nation Farm School (TFNFS) to include a variety of fresh produce in your CSA box. The exact types of produce will vary according to the seasons and harvesting environment but we are working to focus on providing culturally appropriate vegetables that will be familiar to residents of Renfrew-Collingwood. See the graphic below for some of the produce TFNFS has been growing:
Membership details
Members pick up their CSA weekly on Friday evenings between 5–7pm at Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH). CNH is conveniently located 2 blocks away from the Joyce Skytrain station and includes parking access, wheelchair accessible front entrance, and elevator from the underground parking.
Our first pilot season is expected to run from September 10 to October 29, 2021 for a total of 8 weeks.
Stay connected as we will be working to run a second season for the 2022 growing season.
Suggested donation $30 to buy a box for a neighbour
Who is eligible to receive a subsidized CSA?
Subsidized CSA boxes are intended to support community members facing food insecurity to access healthy, culturally appropriate, and locally harvested produce. In general, CSA subsidy recipients are referred to the program through a CNH program or service.
Subsidized CSA cost $20/month = $40 total
Specific criteria are as follows:
Are interested in receiving and utilizing fresh produce weekly
Lives in the Renfrew-Collingwood neighbourhood
Experiences food insecurity
Referred to the program through a CNH service (ie. Settlement Services, RISE, Seniors Services)
Systemic racism, a global pandemic, poverty, homelessness, gentrification, social isolation, limited funding models, overstretched service models. These are just some of the big issues facing the neighbourhood of Renfrew-Collingwood and beyond. They are big complex issues that require creative and innovative responses that get at the root of the issues. They require a new form of leadership and collaboration that can transform the mindsets, culture, and systems that keep these problems in place. As a neighbourhood with a thriving nonprofit sector, creative arts community, and mobilized residents, Renfrew-Collingwood is uniquely positioned to demonstrate a new way to create lasting change.
Scale Your Impact: Community Systems Change Certificate is a community-based certificate that draws on the strengths of the neighbourhood by bringing together community partners, leaders, artists, and others who are working to make this a thriving neighbourhood.
Through this 9-month certificate, participants have the opportunity to learn with a cohort about how to get at the root issues of the problems they are working on to create lasting change, while increasing their leadership and facilitation capacities. Through the curriculum, participants develop a toolbox of innovative methods and collaborate with other inspiring leaders to impact change.
Through Scale your Impact, you will: •Understand the big systems you are working in and where the leverage points for change are •Get at the root causes of big issues such as systemic racism, homelessness, climate change, and more •Use human-centred design tools and other innovative methods to increase creativity and idea generation •Understand why self-awareness is a necessary part of effective social innovation •Engage creative and adaptive leadership to leverage change in the issues you care about •Increase your capacity to communicate and collaborate, in particular across difference •Build bridges and create safe spaces across diverse people, communities, cultures, sectors, and silos.
When? September 2021 to June 2022 (8 half-day sessions monthly on Fridays from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm) What?
8 half-day workshops
Monthly Community of Practice online gathering
Peer learning opportunities
1-1 coaching session
Applied learning projects, supported by a Systems Change Small Grant
Who?
Connectors and leaders in Renfrew Collingwood
Community partners and non-profit staff
Artists
Business people
Students and educators
Anyone interested in amplifying systems change
Where? CNH Annex (3690 Vanness Ave) and online
About the program
Over the 8 sessions, we will cover a broad curriculum that will allow you to better tackle the big complex problems you are working on. Your learning will be supported by a monthly online meeting of a Community of Practice where you can deepen your learning and bring forward questions you are working with. You will also have the opportunity to workshop the big problems you are working on, and will have the opportunity to work in peer learning groups and with a 1-1 with a coach who can support you to deepen your impact. There will also be small grants available to support a project or intervention to make change around a problem you are working on.
All workshop sessions take place on Fridays from 8:30am-12:30pm on the following dates: Session 1 (Oct 1): Intro to social innovation and systems thinking Session 2 (Nov 5): Collaboration and communication Session 3 (Dec 3): Creatively intervening in a system Session 4 (Jan 28): Self in the system – adaptive leadership for impact Session 5 (Mar 4): Diversity, equity, and power in systems Session 6 (Apr 8): Resilience, anti-fragility, and care of the self Session 7 (May 13): Increasing, scaling, and evaluating impact Session 8 (Jun 17): Reflection, integration, and celebration
**Please note that the program is planned for in-person but may need to move online depending on the context.**
**The time commitment for this program is approximately 8 hours per month. You must attend all sessions in order to be eligible for the certificate.**
Application
Scale your Impact is a free program with the generous support of the Vancouver Foundation. There is a maximum of 24 participants in this program, and seats in the program are secured through a simple application process. To apply for the program, please go HERE to submit your application.
Given the limited spots in the program, we encourage you to apply early to save your seat. Please note that we are only able to accept a maximum of 4 people per organization due to size limits.
Lisa Gibson (she/her) is a facilitator, coach and systems change consultant. She specializes in helping people and groups bring their whole hearts forward in creating a more just, caring, and sustainable world. With over 20 years experience in local and international work at multiple scales, she specializes in working with individuals, organizations, and communities to embed systemic change, transform belief systems, and construct alliances across diversity. Lisa is a founding instructor of the Scale Your Impact Certificate and of Simon Fraser University’s Social Innovation Certificate program. She lives with her family on the unceded ancestral Coast Salish lands of the əsəlil̓wətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), & Sḵwx̱wú7meshsi (Squamish) Nations.
Maria dela Cruz (siya/she/they) is a Systems Change Community Developer with CNH; a trauma informed decolonizing anti-oppression certified executive coach and facilitator; a peacemaking circle practitioner; and a founding member of the Fierce Filipinx Femmes Ancestral Circle (FFFAC), on the unceded sacred ancestral territories of the Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam) First Nations. Maria is the Vice President of the board of directors of WAVAW as well as her co-operative housing board. She also provides sliding scale or pro bono coaching and leadership empowerment to women, femmes, and youth in transition.
Over the last year, many of us have lost loved ones and neighbours. Regardless of whether the cause of death was COVID-19, an overdose or any other cause, losses during this time have been especially hard because we haven’t been able to gather or travel to participate in funerals, or give each other hugs.
In honour of those who have lost their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, RISE Community Health Centre and Community Development—both departments of Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH)—organized a planting ceremony at the Norquay Food Forest (2732 Horley Street) on May 3, 2021.
The ceremony was led by Elder Eugene Harry (XiQuelem). Together, we planted a Nootka rose.
The memorial Nootka rose is accessible to all. It is a place to honour, find solace, and reconnect to the land. We encourage you to visit the site, with safety in mind, to pay your respects in whatever way is meaningful to you. Whether that means weeding around the rose bush, leaving behind a special stone or feather, or even to simply sit on a bench and enjoy the birds.
About the Nootka rose
The Nootka rose, also known as the wild rose, was chosen for the planting ceremony to symbolize the heart medicine that many of us need during this pandemic.
The Nootka rose is native to the Pacific Northwest coast. As a perennial, multi-stemmed shrub that spreads to form patches by underground shoots, the plant speaks to the interconnectedness that we have with each other. We chose a plant to represent the medicines that we need today and what we are seeding to nurture as medicines for future generations.
From all walks of life, we are connected by the pandemic. As the years come and as this rose plant gets established, we chose a plant we can share shoots with so that community members can keep sharing in the heart medicine.
The Nootka rose is low maintenance, and prefers full to part sun and moist soil, but is resilient in tolerating a variety of growing conditions. In the wild, the Nootka rose is common along forest edges, sunny fields, hedgerows and moist ditches. When grown in, the bush stands tall and full of heart-shaped petals. A reminder to open our hearts and that we always have a plant relation we can lean on.
The Nootka rose bush offers a diverse range of healing properties. The roots, leaves, flowers and fruits of the plant are edible. In the spring, you can harvest the leaves, roots, and stems. The flowers can be harvested throughout the summer and the fruit after the first frost.
The scent of the rose calms the senses as well as the skin. Both the petals and hips are often used in many therapeutic cosmetic preparations and contain volatile oils that are soothing and uplifting and aid to relieve states of depression and broken-heartedness. The fruits of the rose are fleshy red hips that are pear shaped. Rosehips are gathered in the autumn after the first frost and are generally dried for use as a tea, jam and jellies. The hips are high in vitamin C and a good medicine to help us to stay healthy in the winter, fight off colds and flus, keep regular and absorb our iron intake.
The Nootka rose is a reminder to take care of our wholistic wellness and those around us.
The original planting ceremony was livestreamed online. To view the event, visit CNH on Facebook.We also encourage our community to support the newly planted Nootka rose by watering the soil around the roots.
Elder Eugene Harry (XiQuelem) stands next to the site of the Nootka rose during the planting ceremony.
Flowers and stones decorate the site of the rose bush.
The Nootka rose in full view.
A handmade plaque shares the purpose of the bush.
Elder Eugene Harry (XiQuelem)’s drum leans against a fence.
Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) is accepting nominations for its Board of Directors. This is an exciting time to join our Board as we come back from the pandemic and continue to develop as a vibrant organization.
Applicants should live and/or work in Renfrew-Collingwood, have a broad understanding of the neighbourhood and feel committed to becoming engaged in improving all aspects of our neighbourhood. We are interested in hearing from people from all backgrounds and ages but are especially interested in applicants who are between the ages of 16-29 or are 55-plus. We are also interested in hearing from those who live with a disability. This year we have a particular need for those who have experience in healthcare, knowledge of government, have skills in public relations and are experienced in working with underserved populations. We are also particularly interested in applicants from Filipino, Latinx and Indigenous communities.
The CNH Board of Directors is committed to an anti-oppression, anti-racist approach to its work and welcomes those who thrive in a vibrant, welcoming environment.
Applicants should be able to spend 8-10 hours per month on Board-related work and be able to commit to a three-year term, starting this October. The deadline for applications is July 9. If you are interested, please contact Jennifer Gray-Grant at 604-412-3835 or jgray-grant@cnh.bc.ca.
June 15. 2021 marks one year since RISE Community Health Centre opened its doors at 5198 Joyce Street! During RISE’s first year, we have seen incredible growth from five staff members to 21 staff members, and from a few patients when we started in our tiny clinic room at Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) to over 400 patients.
Opening during the COVID-19 pandemic—and the pandemic lasting as long as it has—has created challenges RISE staff never anticipated. Nevertheless, staff have managed to have over 10,000 in-person and virtual client visits in our first year. We also had over 200 group sessions, including regular community visits to Kingsway Continental, Sarah Ross and Naomi Place—all non-market housing centres—in addition to CNH’s Morning Star and SAFE in Collingwood programs.
Some of the highlights of year one for RISE staff were:
“Building an amazing team, moving into a beautiful new space and supporting people that really need it.”
“Meeting different people and learning from them.”
“Seeing our team grow into this amazing RISE family.”
In Year 2 of operations, we hope to open the RISE non-profit pharmacy dispensary, continue expanding our staff and clients, and continue building relationships in the community. Staff are looking forward to the pandemic ending so we can further decrease the barriers to access for clients and have a grand opening for the public.
For more information about RISE, visit cnh.bc.ca/rise or call 604-558-8090.
RISE (Resilient, Integrative, Socially Just and Equitable) Community Health Centre connects Renfrew-Collingwood community members who have difficulty accessing health care to a health care team and social supports. RISE also provides health promotion programs and events to the broader Renfrew-Collingwood neighbourhood. RISE is part of CNH, a non-profit society governed by a volunteer board of directors.
Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) wishes to express its deep sorrow at the horrifying discovery of a mass grave of 215 Indigenous children on the territory of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation. This news is unthinkable, but it is not surprising. For decades, Indigenous communities have shared stories of the hideous abuse and neglect that was inflicted on Indigenous children at Canada’s residential schools. Years ago, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission made six Calls to Action regarding the identification of unmarked graves in areas around former residential schools and repatriation of the remains of Indigenous children buried in these graves. These Calls to Action have been ignored. The time for non-Indigenous Canadians to acknowledge the genocide of Indigenous peoples is overdue, and it is indeed worse than we as settlers could have imagined.
CNH calls on the non-Indigenous members of our community to leverage the feelings of grief and shame that we have experienced upon learning this news into meaningful action to support Indigenous peoples across Canada. We encourage non-Indigenous members of our community to learn about the people on whose land they live, and to learn about the intergenerational trauma that colonization continuously inflicts upon Indigenous peoples. We encourage non-Indigenous members of our community to take concrete steps toward decolonization in their own lives, and to push their friends and family to do the same.
We encourage the non-Indigenous members of our community to donate to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society (IRSSS). The last residential school closed in 1996, long after CNH opened. Residential school survivors are all around us, fighting a lifelong and intergenerational battle with the scars they carry from their experiences. Every member of the CNH Board who is able has made or will make a financial donation to IRSSS.
Lastly, CNH calls upon all levels of government to fully implement the 94 Calls to Action made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. In particular, Calls to Action 71 through 76 address the woeful efforts that have been made to locate, repatriate and honour the remains of thousands of Indigenous children who died at residential schools. It would be naïve to believe that the mass grave of Indigenous children located on the territory of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation is the only mass grave of Indigenous children at the location of a former residential school in this country. Every child who lost his or her life at a residential school deserves to be returned home with respect and dignity. We encourage the non-Indigenous members of our community to write to their elected representatives and demand the immediate implementation of the 94 Calls to Action, including Calls to Action 71 through 76.
The IRSSS Emergency Crisis Line (1-866-925-4419) is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide counselling and support for residential school survivors. The KUU-US Crisis Line Society (1-800-588-8717) provides an Indigenous-specific crisis line that is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
